The Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University is pleased to announce the 2023-2025 Research Seminar on Mentoring Meaningful Learning Experiences. This three-summer research seminar facilitates multi-institutional research on mentoring meaningful learning experiences, including but not limited to high-impact educational practices (HIPs; e.g., internships, capstone experiences, ePortfolios, community-based learning, etc.). Researchers will use mixed-methods approaches to conduct qualitative and quantitative research.

We invite interested scholars and practitioners, regardless of discipline, to apply to join a multi-institutional cohort of researchers collaborating to investigate the quality characteristics of mentoring and how colleges and universities can foster equitable cultures of mentoring that:

• Support all students in identifying, developing, and maintaining personalized mentoring relationships;
• Build trust and empower students, particularly from marginalized communities, to identify mentoring relationships as normal, productive relationships worth pursuing; and
• Prepare faculty, staff, and students to participate in meaningful mentoring relationships that adapt to members’ evolving needs over time.

Selected applicants will meet on Elon’s campus during the following weeks:

• Year 1: June 18-23, 2023: Participants will meet on Elon’s campus to collaboratively develop and plan multi-institutional research projects to be conducted throughout the following year at the participants’ own institutions. These research cohorts will enable larger scale studies and explorations of the impact of different institutional contexts.
• Year 2: June 16-21, 2024: Participants will meet to share their initial multi-institutional results and to plan a more sharply focused research agenda for the research cohort for year two.
• Year 3: June 15-20, 2025: Participants will reconvene to share their year-two results, to plan continuations of their work, and to participate in a conference on the seminar theme.

Read the full call for applications to learn more.

Participants will produce significant, concrete outcomes. Past Center for Engaged Learning research seminars have generated edited volumes, journal articles and book chapters, white papers, and conference presentations – as well as local initiatives on participants’ home campuses. Participants will be well-positioned to use evidence-based assessments of student learning conducted as part of the research seminar to inform mentoring meaningful learning experiences at their institutions.

Deadline to Apply: February 15, 2023

Printer-Friendly Call for Applications (PDF) | Online Application